


The Hero and the Legend

by Seasider



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23881210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seasider/pseuds/Seasider
Summary: One young boy thinks about the legend of Luke Skywalker. One-shot.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	The Hero and the Legend

**Author's Note:**

> As I watched and sniffled over Luke’s death in TLJ, this came into my head and out my typing fingers. Hope you enjoy.

The Hero and the Legend 

**OooOoo**

When he was twelve, he’d stored his Hero and Friends figures in a box and slid it under his bed. He was too old for toys, especially these ancient ones that had belonged to his parents. But there were moments when he missed them. Then he’d sit on the floor, pull out the box, and line them up on the upturned lid. The Hero was his favorite.

He’d thrown out the small container of sand that he used to prop up the smiling Hero Luke Skywalker on Tatooine (With Lightsaber), so Hero would feel at home and safe, how he used to be before he joined the Resistance. Now he added him next to Hero Luke Skywalker at Bespin, who looked proper on the metal box lid, plain and gray and flat, the place where he met Dark Father. Hero Luke’s clothes were ragged— made that way by his mother’s blunt scissors— and his face scarred and bruised thanks to red and purple markers. He’d left Dark Father alone and perfect because there was nothing to change. He was all black and faceless, his helmet dulled with age and multiple beatings from the tiny lightsaber.

Then came Hero Luke Skywalker who wore black like Dark Father. Serious. No smile, not even at the end. But at the end, after the Emperor had been destroyed (his parents had never gotten that figure not even, they told him, when it was on close-out in the stores and the price marked down to nearly free) then Hero Luke’s black shirt opened to reveal his white heart that had been there all along. But he still didn’t have a smile. Not even when Dark-Father-With-Removeable-Helmet was exposed to be a cracked egg, which was funny at first until he thought more about it and wondered how a head had been hurt so much that it turned into an egg.

His parents thought he never looked at his Hero figures anymore. They didn’t call him Hero any longer; now they called him Legend, and sometimes, after the tales had been repeated over and over, he wasn’t sure if the Hero had been real human or just a myth. In town, other people talked about him in whispers, silencing when they saw troopers or strangers, visitors who didn’t belong. He wanted to believe in Hero, but it was hard, especially after Hero’s Sister had sent a message to his parents and maybe to others too, because there was more talk after that. But no one answered Hero’s Sister because Hero was gone and he had taken Hope with him. He figured Hero was dead.

He wondered why Hero’s Sister didn’t have Hope with her. Why wasn’t she like Hero, why couldn’t she do Miracles like he had done? She was a princess and a general, and that was a different kind of hero, but her army kept losing because it had no Hope.

But today, on his fourteenth birthday, something was different. People were talking— loudly this time, not whispering or hiding. There were holos flooding in from everywhere, from smugglers and pirate broadcasters. Holos taken from a dark cave looking into the brightness at two figures dwarfed by a row of giant Imperial walkers, and holos filmed from up high, looking down from different angles, impossibly framed by viewing windows, and holos from flying fighters that sped past catching brief images, and they all showed two people battling—with _lightsabers!_

One in black— but not Dark Father— it was the other Dark one, Ren, the one who killed those who protested.

And the second figure…bearded and old, in black too, with his white heart revealed. His own heart beat faster when he heard his mother breathe, _Skywalker!_ and he realized that Hero Luke had come back. Whether from the dead or prison or exile, he didn’t know, but Hero seemed like he was dancing, fast and graceful, spinning so fast he was blurred, and never attacking.

And his father said, _Hope is returned!_ and smiled so big that he worried his father’s face might crack like the egg.

His own smile died when Hero turned off his laser sword. Ren ran to him and cut Hero in half, but Hero stood firm. Then Ren thrust his saber through the heart of Hero. But he didn’t die, he just stood there... simply stood (and spoke?) and then disappeared. Vanished. Like a ghost.

Maybe Hero Luke was dead… _had been_ dead. But he had returned to them, to all of them, bringing back Hope after they had let it go.

So when Hero Sister called again, his parents went, taking him with them, because he was almost as old as Hero Luke on Tatooine (Lightsaber Included). And all the parents and all the young people came out to answer her call.

He took his Hero Luke figures along in his backpack.

For Hope.

**OooOoO**


End file.
